Key cast members

Chaise Barbaric – Dog Story

Chaise, 15, lives with his family in Barrack Heights. He’s studying at Warilla High School and hopes to own a motorbike shop one day.

Skie Carlson – Party Story

Skie, 17, lives with her boyfriend and his family in Dapto. After studying for her HSC at St Josephs High School and working part-time in retail, she wants to work in child-care. “It was really exciting making this film and a great experience for me.

Daniel de Filippo – Roman’s Story

Daniel, 22, lives in his own apartment in Wollongong. He is currently studying a Diploma in Screen and Media at Wollongong TAFE. He is working on producing a Tropfest film.

Tiran Dingle – Thief Story

Tiran lives with his family in Warilla. He graduated from the youth rehabilitation centre Triple Care Farm in 2013 and now wants to train as a building apprentice and eventually join the army.

Lakia Igano – Poetry Class Story

Lakia, 19 years, lives in her own apartment in Wollongong. She is studying business and planning to do a course in Interior Design and Events in 2014.

Kane Porter – Poetry Class Story

Kane, 17, lives with his family in Warrawong. He is studying his HSC at Warrawong High School and, when he isn’t at school, he is working for a local plumbing business. He is also looking forward to becoming a father.

Elias Rees – Poetry Class story

Elias, 18, lives with his family in Berkeley. Since being involved with Rites Of Passage, his acting career has taken off, appearing in the ABC series Redfern Now, the feature film Around The Block and short film The Chuck In. He wants to become ‘the Australian Denzel Washington’.

Chris Simpson – Skaters’ Story

Chris, 18, lives with his family in Warrawong. In 2012 he got a job as a trolley boy and enjoys work and spending his hard-earned cash. Chris has gained three years of metal fabrication qualifications and hopes one day to be a motorbike mechanic.

Director – Phillip Crawford

Phillip uses the process of making a film to create opportunities to address disadvantage and develop resilience among people who have experienced hardship in their lives. His unconventional approach won an AFI award for the unique concept of the film HURT, a Film Critics Circle of Australia award for the innovative combination of documentary and fiction and an Arts Justice Fellowship from the NSW Law Foundation. His films have screened at national and international festivals in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Clermont Ferrand, and been broadcast on Arte, Channel 4, SBS and the ABC. Phillip is a co-founder of Beyond Empathy.

Producer – Beyond Empathy

BE is a not-for-profit community, arts and cultural development organisation that creates art projects in Australia with people living on the margins of their communities to tell their stories and engage with new futures. We love art and we hate disadvantage!

Co-Director – Gemma Parsons

Gemma has been involved in youth and community work in the Illawarra for 12 years. She wrote and directed Beyond Empathy’s award-winning short film 2506 with young people in Berkeley and produced and edited the 13 short films made by the participants in the Rites of Passage project.

Co-Producer – Kim McConville

Kim is the co-founder and Executive Director of Beyond Empathy and has been working in Aboriginal communities for 23 years. She has extensive expertise in facilitating collaborative practices across government, corporate, philanthropic and community sectors. Kim was awarded Social Entrepreneur of the year in 2006 and the National Leadership in Arts and Health Award for Excellence in 2011.

Co-Producer – Anna Cater

Anna began her career in journalism and has made documentaries for more than 20 years. Her credits include the award-winning films Dick Smith’s Population Puzzle (ABC); Frank Hurley – the Man Who Made History (BBC, ABC); Outsourced! (PBS, SBS); Honeybee Blues (SBS, Nat Geo); and Canberra Confidential (ABC).

Innovative Distributor – FanDependent

FanDependent is an innovative distributor who create audience-driven business models for film financing, marketing and distribution. FanDependent was launched in May 2012 by Josh Pomeranz, Managing Director of Spectrum Films, and Thomas Mai, former film producer and Sales Agent (Trust Film Sales) on receiving the Innovative Distribution grant from Screen Australia.